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© 1996 by Sherrill Sellman
Light Unlimited
Locked Bag 8000 -
MDC
Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia
Telephone +61 (0)3 9810 9591
Fax: +61
(0)3 9855 9991
E-mail:[email protected]
Oestrogen is quite a high-profile hormone these days.
For some, it represents the Golden Fleece that excites so many medical
practitioners, pharmaceutical companies and writers in search of its miraculous
properties. For others, oestrogen is a rather perilous hormone, fraught with
many unknown and unspoken dangers. Most women are lost in the dark and
bottomless abyss, somewhere between truth and fiction. All too often they are
desperately confused about whether to trust their instincts or medical science.
Their physical, emotional and mental health and long-term well-being hang in the
balance.
The oestrogen story is similar to a modern-day thriller. It is a
story of deception, betrayal, hidden agendas, propaganda and misinformation. As
a story it could be quite entertaining, but as a real-life drama its effects are
disastrous to the lives of tens of millions of women around the
world.
Hormones are very powerful substances. Begin tampering with Nature's
finely tuned messengers of life's processes and you are asking for trouble. This
is especially true for women. A woman's psyche is intimately connected to her
monthly flow of hormones. Hormones not only direct and determine her
physiological processes, but also influence her emotional and psychological
state. Besides creating myriad health problems, hormonal imbalance can undermine
self-esteem, creativity, mental acuity and a healthy sex-drive.
Perhaps the
bigger picture about the oestrogen story is the fact that the introduction of
synthetic hormones, as a legitimate need of women, is basically experimentation
under the guise of standard medical practice. As a result, medical science has
expanded its control of women's lives.
Germaine Greer sums up the medical
establishment's intrusion into a woman's hormonal health quite astutely when she
says, "Menopause is a dream speciality for the mediocre medic. It requires no
surgical or diagnostic skill; it is not itself a life-threatening condition;
there is no scope for malpractice action. Patients must return again and again
for a battery of tests and check-ups."1
Quite simply, tampering with a
woman's hormones is tampering with her power.
Introducing Oestrogen Dominance
The natural design of the body is
to produce the two hormones, progesterone and oestrogen, in a very sensitive and
precise balance so that reproductive ability is maximised. These two hormones
are closely interrelated in many ways and, although they are generally
antagonistic towards each other, each helps the other by making the cells of a
target organ more sensitive.
Oestrogen really isn't a single hormone. To be
accurate, it refers to a class of hormones with oestrus activity (i.e.,
proliferation of endometrial cells in preparation for pregnancy). The oestrogens
are named oestradiol and oestrone-both of which are implicated in stimulating
abnormal cell growth when found in higher-than-normal amounts in the body-as
well as oestriol, which is known to be cancer-inhibiting. Each type of oestrogen
has a different function in the body. These oestrogens are produced mainly in
the ovaries, although small quantities are secreted from the adrenal glands, the
placenta during pregnancy, and fat cells.
When puberty arrives, oestrogen
encourages in a girl the development of breasts and the expansion of the uterus.
Oestrogen contributes to the moulding of female body contours and maturation of
the skeleton. After that, it helps regulate the menstrual cycle and plays other
necessary roles in maintaining bone-mass and keeping blood-cholesterol levels in
check. When excessive quantities of oestrogen, regardless of source, are present
in a young woman's body they will contribute to the 'burnout' of her ovaries and
undermine fertility.
In the case of progesterone, however, we are talking
about only one specific hormone. Thus, progesterone is both the name of the
class and the single member of the class. In the ovaries, progesterone is the
precursor of oestrogen. Progesterone is also made in smaller amounts by the
adrenal glands in both sexes and by the testes in males. It is the precursor of
testosterone and of all important adrenal cortical hormones. From progesterone
are derived not only other sex hormones but also corticosteroids, which are
essential for stress response, sugar and electrolyte balance and blood pressure,
not to mention survival.2
While oestrogen is the primary hormone during the first two weeks of a
woman's menstrual cycle, fulfilling its role of preparing the endometrium for
pregnancy, progesterone is the major female reproductive hormone during the
latter two weeks of the menstrual cycle. Progesterone is necessary for the
survival of the fertilised ovum, the resulting embryo and the foetus throughout
gestation when production of the progesterone is taken over by the
placenta.
There is a very delicate balance between the interplay of oestrogen
and progesterone. If that balance is interfered with, devastating effects occur.
Unfortunately, introduced synthetic hormones as well as environmental pollutants
are presently wreaking havoc with our hormones.
"Oestrogen dominance" is a
term that was first used by Dr John Lee. A retired medical practitioner from
California, Dr Lee has spent the better part of the last two decades exploring
the basis for the proliferation of such female problems as PMS, endometriosis,
ovarian cysts, fibroids, breast cancer, infertility, osteoporosis and menopausal
problems. From his clinical experience in the field of female health, as well as
from his published research, Dr Lee believes that many women are suffering from
the effects of too much oestrogen. He finds that stress, nutritional
deficiencies, oestrogenic substances from our environment, and taking synthetic
oestrogens, combined with an ensuing deficiency of progesterone, are the likely
contributing factors to the creation of oestrogen dominance.
The following is
a list of symptoms that can be caused or made worse by oestrogen dominance:
acceleration of the ageing process, allergies, breast tenderness, decreased
sex-drive, depression, fatigue, hair thinning, excessive facial hair,
fibrocystic breasts, foggy thinking, headaches, hypoglycaemia, increased
blood-clotting, increased risk of stroke, infertility, irritability, memory
loss, miscarriage, osteoporosis, pre-menopausal bone-loss, PMS, thyroid
dysfunction mimicking hypothyroidism, uterine cancer, uterine fibroids, water
retention, bloating, fat gain (especially around the abdomen, hips and thighs),
gall bladder disease and auto-immune disorders such as lupus and
thyroiditis.3
In addition to the synthetic oestrogens, women are also prescribed synthetic
progestins. They have been added to the oestrogen formula to offset the hazards
of oestrogen drugs. Nancy Beckham in her book, Menopause-A Positive Approach
Using Natural Therapies, was able to identify more than 100 adverse effects
for the most commonly prescribed oestrogen and progestin
medications.
According to Dr Lee, many of these common health problems can be
offset by increasing the level of natural progesterone. The problem is not
always that progesterone levels are actually lower than normal, but they are low
in comparison to elevated oestrogen levels.
Due to increased exposure to
these oestrogenic substances in the body, women become more affected by
oestrogens made in the body from their mid-30s onwards. Around this time, women
do not ovulate with every menstrual cycle. Since progesterone is made from the
ripened follicle (corpus luteum), if there is no ovulation there is no corpus
luteum formed and hence no progesterone made.
Stress, nutritional
deficiencies and chemical pollutants all contribute to anovulatory cycles. The
frequency of these anovulatory cycles increases as menopause approaches,
changing the menstrual pattern to an either heavier or longer menstrual
flow.
While not commonly understood by medical science, the growing incidence
of anovulatory cycles, even in young women, and the ensuing hormone imbalance
are creating huge health problems. Women of all ages are now exposed to a higher
risk of the entire range of oestrogen-dominant conditions.
Oestrogen Dominance in the Environment
Extremely disturbing events
are being reported globally about the alarming changes happening in the
environment.
Not long ago in Lake Apopka in Florida, wildlife biologists
discovered that strange biological effects were happening in the alligators
living there. In 1980, a toxic spill occurred which dumped huge amounts of a
pesticide similar to DDT into the lake. That event was almost forgotten until
five years later when it was discovered that 90 per cent of the alligators had
disappeared. Most of those that remained were incapable of reproducing or had no
urge to mate. The males were born with penises that were not only 75 per cent
shorter than average but were also deformed. Further testing indicated that
their testosterone levels were so low that they hormonally resembled females.
Moreover, the females had abnormal ovaries and follicles, described as "burned
out".4
Recent reports show that strange fish caught in Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, Australia, were hermaphrodites. Similarly, a major British study revealed that male fish downstream from sewage treatment plants changed sex as a result of oestrogen chemicals which had not been removed from treated effluent.5
Dr Ana Soto, an endocrinologist at Tufts University in the United States, had been experimenting with cancer cells taken from the breast and then cultured. She found they would only grow if they were fed oestrogens. One day, the test simply stopped working. The cancer cells continued to grow for four months, even when no oestrogens were fed to them. Dr Soto then realised that the manufacturer of the flasks she had been using had started to use a different plastic-one that, when it becomes warm, releases minute quantities of the oestrogen-like compound, nonylphenol! Her tissues samples were being contaminated by the xeno-oestrogens from the plastic flasks!6
The widespread use of herbicides, pesticides and plastics have created a problem that has never before existed on this planet. We are polluting our environment and ourselves in a sea of oestrogen-like mimics. They are everywhere: in the air, water, soil, and overabundantly in our bodies. Called xeno-oestrogens, these are substances which have a powerful oestrogenic effect on the body, are fat-soluble and non-biodegradable. They are also dangerously toxic.
We presently live in a world awash with petrochemicals. Petrochemicals are
everywhere. Our machines run on petrochemicals, and millions of products
including plastics, microchips, medicines, clothing, foods, soaps, pesticides
and even perfumes are either made from petrochemicals or contain them. The
popular slogan in the early 1950s, "Better Living Through Chemistry", is
returning to haunt us.
The legacy of this pollution has resulted in an
epidemic of reproductive abnormalities, including the steadily increasing number
of cancers of the reproductive tract, infertility, low sperm- counts, poor
sperm-quality and the feminisation of males. The potential consequences of this
overexposure are staggering, especially considering that one of the consequences
is the passing on of reproductive abnormalities to offspring.7
Just how serious is this problem? In a May 1993 article in the British
medical journal, The Lancet, researchers in Scotland and Denmark
hypothesised that xeno-oestrogens are responsible for a steadily declining
sperm-count in men. According to Neils Skakkebeak of the University of
Copenhagen, sperm counts have dropped by more than 50 per cent since 1940.
Meanwhile, the rate of testicular and prostate cancer in the United States and
Europe has tripled in the past 50 years. Reproductive abnormalities such as
undescended testicles have become increasingly common.
Xeno-oestrogens are
also implicated in impaired brain development in children.8 They are also
directly implicated in the 30 to 80 per cent increase in breast, ovarian and
uterine cancers in women over the past 50 years.9
In some rural communities in Australia, where heavy pesticide use has left
residuals in drinking water, there have been reports of boys with abnormally
small penises, along with reports of the feminisation of males and the
masculinisation of females.
It is time for us to wake up and pay heed to
these warnings for the sake of future generations. You can play your part in
protecting your grandchildren and great-grandchildren in the same ways you can
protect yourself: by refusing to use pesticides, minimising your use of
plastics, purchasing hormone-free meat and organic produce, using 'green'
products for detergents and household cleaners, and, in general, using 'natural'
products in favour of petrochemical products.
The Myth of Oestrogen Deficiency
The trend these days is to push
hormone replacement therapy (HRT), featuring synthetic oestrogens and
progestins, onto all menopausal women. Unfortunately, however, this enthusiasm
for drugs is not backed up by the facts. Oestrogen deficiency is loudly
proclaimed by medical practitioners, pharmaceutical advertising and many lay
publications as the primary cause of all the symptoms attributed to menopause
and post-menopause, such as mood swings, depressions, hot flushes, vaginal
dryness, loss of sex-drive and accelerating osteoporosis.
But is there really
such a thing as oestrogen deficiency? While it is true that menopause is
associated with decreasing oestrogen levels, it is not known whether these
decreased levels of oestrogen do in fact cause all the symptoms of
menopause.
Dr Carolyn DeMarco, author of Take Charge of Your Body and
a physician specialising in women's health issues, says there is no direct proof
that oestrogen-lack causes heart disease or other ailments associated with the
menopause.
Germaine Greer, well-known feminist and author of The
Change, writes that "the proponents of HRT have never proved that there is
an oestrogen deficiency, nor have they explained the mechanism by which the
therapy of choice effected its miracles. They have taken the improper course of
defining a disease from its therapy."
Dr Jerilyn Prior, researcher and
Professor of Endocrinology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver,
BC, Canada, points out that no study proving the relationship between oestrogen
deficiency and menopausal symptoms and related diseases has yet been done.
"Instead," says Dr Prior, "a notion has been put forward that since oestrogen
levels go down, this is the most important change and explains all the things
that may or may not be related to menopause. So oestrogen treatment at this
stage of our understanding is premature. This is a kind of backwards science. It
leads to ridiculous ideas-like calling a headache an aspirin-deficiency
disease."10
Considering that Western women tend to have a 10-to-15-year period prior to
menopause when they are oestrogen-dominant and suffering from
oestrogen-dominance symptoms, why are their doctors prescribing them still more
oestrogen?
Dr Prior has shown that, during menopause, progesterone decreases
to 1/120th of baseline levels, whereas oestrogen decreases to one-half to
one-third of pre-menopausal baseline levels. Would it not be wiser to consider
the progesterone-loss effect when evaluating post-menopausal symptoms and such
related conditions as osteoporosis, heart disease, depression and loss of
sex-drive?
In most menopausal women, oestrogen levels are below those
necessary for pregnancy but sufficient for other normal body functions. The
oestrogen "deficiency" hypothesis as an explanation of most menopausal symptoms
or health problems is thus not supported by the facts of oestrogen blood levels,
by worldwide ecological studies or by endocrinology experts.
Dr Lee believes
that "Menopause per se should be regarded as a normal adjustment
reflecting a benign change in a woman's biological life away from child-bearing
and onward to a period of new personal power and fulfilment. The Western
perception of menopause as a threshold of undesirable symptoms and regressive
illness due to oestrogen deficiency is an error not supported by fact. More
accurately, we should view our menopause problem as an abnormality brought about
by industrialised cultures' deviation from a healthy lifestyle."
Synthetic Hormones and the Havoc they Wreak
With hindsight, it will
very likely be recorded in history that the widespread prescribing of synthetic
hormones to women was the biggest medical bungle of the century. Most women
taking the contraceptive pill and HRT have very little idea about the hormones
they are putting into their bodies; nor are they knowledgeable about their
side-effects.
Oral contraceptives are made with synthetic oestrogen and synthetic
progestins (known as the combined Pill). In the early 1960s the Pill was widely
marketed as an effective, safe and convenient method of birth control. However,
the initial trials were flawed and inadequate.11 Nonetheless, the Pill was
promoted with all the enthusiasm the pharmaceutical companies could
muster.
Dr Ellen Grant, author of The Bitter Pill and Sexual
Chemistry, was an early researcher of synthetic hormones and their effects
on health. Back in the 1960s she was shocked when synthetic hormones were not
withdrawn from the market due to their known, serious side-effects.
So, just
what are the effects of suppressing natural hormones with synthetic ones? The
Pill literally stops menstruation, and bleeding occurs each month only because
the synthetic hormones are not taken for seven days of the cycle. The bleeding
that occurs would be more accurately termed "withdrawal bleeding", not
menstruation.
Taking the combined Pill increases the risk of coronary artery
disease, breast cancer and high blood-pressure. The side-effects include nausea,
vomiting, headaches, breast tenderness, weight increases, changes in sex- drive,
depression, blood clots and increased incidence of vaginitis. Also, women with a
history of epilepsy, migraine, asthma or heart disease may find their symptoms
worsen.12 Many of these effects may persist long after women discontinue taking
the Pill.
According to Nancy Beckham in her book, Menopause-A Positive
Approach Using Natural Therapies, "Women on the Pill have a greater tendency
to liver dysfunction and to more allergies. Oestrogen drugs also affect vitamin
concentrations. Vitamin A levels may be raised in the blood; vitamins B12 and C
may be lowered. The clinical significance is not yet known."
The introduction
of the mini-Pill and Depo-Provera, both of which are made from synthetic
progestins, is equally disturbing to women's hormonal health, with all the
previously listed side-effects and risks.
Hormone replacement therapy was the
next great discovery to arrive, following on from the Pill. The pharmaceutical
companies had found another lucrative market for their synthetic hormones: the
menopausal woman! While HRT is given at lower doses than the Pill, the
side-effects are often more subtle and are slower to show up. HRT is now
available in a variety of forms: pills, patches and implants. One of the most
popular synthetic oestrogens is Premarin, which is made from the urine of
pregnant mares-just what a woman's body needs!
Hormone Addiction
What is little-known about taking HRT is that it
is an addictive drug. A former president of the London Royal College of
Psychiatrists warns that oestrogen used in HRT to counteract symptoms of
menopause could be as addictive as heroin.13
In the 1970s, testing was conducted on two groups of menopausal women. Half
received oestrogen replacement and the other half sugar pills. All were
monitored for insomnia, nervousness, depression, dizziness, weakness, joint
pain, palpitations, prickling sensations and hot flushes.
Both groups of
women experienced dramatic improvement during the first 90 days of the study,
except that the sugar-pill group experienced more discomfort from hot flushes.
When the groups were switched, those who had initially received oestrogen
experienced a pronounced return of their symptoms. It became apparent that, once
oestrogen replacement stopped, a 'cold turkey' withdrawal effect was often
experienced. This was especially true with implants, since the blood oestradiol
levels may become much higher than the body would normally produce.14
Nancy Beckham warns that "Women on hormone replacement therapy who have
enhanced well-being when their oestradiol levels are very high, but feel unwell
when their blood levels are normal, may be experiencing reactions similar to
those of people on social drugs.
"It is well-researched knowledge that when
you first have these drugs they give you a lift, which is pleasant. As you get
used to the substance you find you need more to give you the same effect, and
ultimately your body craves a high level even though you may be unwell. When the
substance in your blood drops below a certain level, you can experience
withdrawal symptoms such as flushing, perspiration, sleep disturbance, shaking
and other nervous reactions."
While it is easy to prescribe HRT for women,
there is hardly any medical data concerning the effects of stopping HRT in women
who have received long-term treatment.15 In one trial lasting three-and-a-half
years, withdrawal lasted for six months.
So, unbeknownst to women,
'menopause's little helper' could in fact be making oestrogen junkies out of
them. It's great news for the pharmaceutical companies, but a calamity of untold
proportion for women. Not only do they experience a wide range of physical
symptoms but they also suffer from psychiatric disturbances.
Dr Ellen Grant
has said that "when higher-than-expected rates of attempted suicide and violent
deaths were recorded among HRT-takers, the excuse was that more women suffering
from depression are put on oestrogens in an attempt to treat them." Oestrogens
are rarely considered as an implicating factor in depressive behaviour.
Hormone Balance and Illness: Debunking the Myths
HRT is now almost
universally recommended to menopausal women for a wide variety of reasons. The
two most significant reasons women are encouraged to embark upon the HRT
bandwagon are HRT's supposed contribution in preventing or lessening the effects
of osteoporosis and of cardiovascular disease. The tremendous fear of these two
illnesses that is instilled by well-meaning doctors-who, after all, are the
targets of effective pharmaceutical advertising and education (usually the only
source of information they receive about these products)-often overrides a
woman's natural instincts.
It's time to unravel the myths that hide the real
story.
Osteoporosis
MYTHS OF OSTEOPOROSIS
Dr John Lee, author of What Your Doctor
May Not Tell You About Menopause, writes this about the myths of
osteoporosis:
Myth #1: Osteoporosis is a calcium-deficiency disease.
Most women with osteoporosis are getting plenty of calcium in their
diet. It is quite easy to get the minimum daily requirement of calcium in even a
relatively poor diet. The truth is that osteoporosis is a disease of excessive
calcium-loss caused by many factors. In osteoporosis, calcium is being lost from
the bones faster than it is being added, regardless of how much calcium a woman
consumes.
Myth #2: Osteoporosis is an oestrogen-deficiency
disease.
Not even basic medical texts agree with this. It is a
fabrication of the pharmaceutical industry with no scientific evidence to
support it. Osteoporosis begins long before oestrogen levels fall, and
accelerates for a few years at menopause. Taking oestrogen can slow bone-loss
for those few years, but its effect wears off within a few years after
menopause. Most importantly, oestrogen cannot rebuild new bone.
Myth #3:
Osteoporosis is a disease of menopause.
This is at least a decade short
of the truth. Osteoporosis begins anywhere from five to 20 years prior to
menopause, when oestrogen levels are still high. Osteoporosis accelerates at
menopause or when a woman's ovaries are surgically removed or become
non-functional, such as can happen after hysterectomy. It is staggering to think
how many thousands or millions of women have been doomed to a crippled old age
or early death because their ovaries and/or uterus were unnecessarily removed
before menopause and natural progesterone replacement was ignored.
To understand osteoporosis it is important to know a bit about bones.
Bone-forming cells are of two different kinds. One type are called osteoclasts,
and their job is to travel through the bone in search of old bone that is in
need of renewal. Osteoclasts dissolve bone and leave behind tiny unfilled
spaces. Osteoblasts move into these spaces in order to build new bone. A lack of
oestrogens, as experienced at menopause, indirectly stimulates the growth of
osteoclasts, thus increasing the risk for developing osteoporosis. HRT
containing oestrogen should therefore help prevent osteoporosis. From this point
of view it does.
However, osteoclast cells have been shown to have no
oestrogen receptors in themselves, so cannot directly build new bone. On the
other hand, osteoblast cells, which are responsible for making new bone, have
been shown to have not oestrogen but progesterone receptors. What this
means is that it is progesterone (the natural form, not the synthetic
progestins), not oestrogen, which is responsible for building bone
tissue.
This view is upheld in the Scientific American Updated Medicine
Text 1991, which states, "Oestrogens decrease bone resorption, but
associated with the decrease in bone resorption is a decrease in bone formation.
Therefore, oestrogen should not be expected to increase bone mass." The authors
also discuss oestrogen side-effects, including the risk of endometrial cancer
which "is increased sixfold in women who receive oestrogen therapy for up to
five years; the risk is increased to fifteenfold in long-term users."
Dr
Kitty Little from Oxford found masses of tiny clots in the bones of rabbits
treated with hormones. She is convinced that HRT in the form of oestrogen and
progestins will increase the risk of osteoporosis. Blood clots originate from
sticky clumps of platelet cells in the blood. She believes that blood clots in
the bones can cause bone to break down, leading to osteoporosis.16
More and more research findings are emerging that challenge the oestrogen-deficiency/osteoporosis relationship and reinforce the progesterone-deficiency link. The results of a three-year study of 63 post-menopausal women with osteoporosis verify this. Women using transdermal progesterone cream experienced an average 7 to 8 per cent bone-mass density increase in the first year, 4 to 5 per cent in the second year, and 3 to 4 per cent in the third year! Untreated women in this age category typically lose 1.5 per cent bone-mass density per year! These results have not been found with any other form of hormone replacement therapy or dietary supplementation!17
Bone loss is the result of many other factors besides progesterone
deficiency. Excess protein in the form of meat and dairy products (contrary to
the dairy industry's advertising) contributes to bone loss. An acidic condition
is created in the blood which then pulls out calcium from the bones to
neutralise it. Another major factor is lack of exercise. Bone growth is
dependent on weight- bearing exercise. In addition, sugar, diuretics,
antibiotics, fluoride, cigarettes, alcohol abuse and cortisone are all
deleterious to bones.
To sum it up, post-menopausal osteoporosis is a disease
of excess bone-loss caused by a progesterone deficiency and, secondarily, by a
poor diet and lack of exercise. Progesterone restores bone mass. Natural
progesterone hormone is an essential factor in the prevention and proper
treatment of osteoporosis at any age.18
Cardiovascular Disease
Oestrogen is being touted by mainstream medicine as a great preventer of
cardiovascular disease in women and therefore a major reason to have women on
HRT.
According to Dr Lee, the one notable study which formed the entire basis
of the positive oestrogen-cardiovascular link-the 1991 New England Journal of
Medicine report known as the Nurses' Questionnaire Study, conducted with a
large sampling of nurses-was radically flawed and the statistics manipulated.19
Although there is ample evidence from numerous other studies showing that,
indeed, the opposite is true-that oestrogen is a significant factor in
creating heart disease-these findings have been virtually ignored in the
frenzy for profits. He goes on to say that the pharmaceutical advertisements
also neglected to mention the fact that stroke death incidence from that study
was 50 per cent higher among the oestrogen users.
Nancy Beckham's research
into the oestrogen-cardiovascular link reveals the following:20
High doses of oestrogens are likely to be thrombogenic (blood-clotting)
during use, and it is possible that even moderate doses may increase the risk of
clotting among women who smoke or who already have clogged arteries. Reports are
now starting to come in, indicating that high-dose oestrogens, particularly as
experienced with oestradiol implants, cause hypercoagulability, which means that
the blood has a tendency to clot, thereby increasing the risk of heart attack
and stroke.
A British medical report also states that the cardiovascular
effects of synthetic progestins used with oestrogen in the much larger number of
women who have not undergone hysterectomy are unknown.
Some researchers do
not consider that heart disease is linked to the cessation of the body's
oestrogen production. (Actually, it is inaccurate to use the word "cessation",
since oestrogen production is only reduced in menopause.)
Natural progesterone also seems to play a significant role in protecting women from cardiovascular disease. We know now that anovulatory cycles and lowered progesterone levels occur prior to menopause, and progesterone levels after menopause are close to zero. Oestrogen, on the other hand, falls only 40 to 60 per cent with menopause. A woman's passage through menopause results in a greater loss of progesterone than of oestrogen. Perhaps the increase in heart risk after menopause is due more to progesterone deficiency than to oestrogen deficiency. Dr Lee has noted in his clinical experience that lipid profiles improve when progesterone is supplemented.21
What is known about progesterone is that it increases the burning of fats for
energy and, in addition, has an anti-inflammatory effect. Both of these actions
could be protective against coronary heart disease. Progesterone protects the
integrity and function of cell membranes, whereas oestrogen allows the influx of
sodium and water while allowing the loss of potassium and magnesium.
Progesterone, a natural diuretic, promotes better sleep patterns and helps one
deal with stress. When the known actions of progesterone are reviewed, it is
clear that many of its actions are also beneficial to the heart.
When it
comes to increased risk of coronary heart disease, dietary factors are extremely
important. Heart disease risk is increased by the following: overeating in
general; animal fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates; overprocessed foods;
excess salt or sodium; trans-fatty acids; lack of fibre; magnesium and/or
potassium deficiency; and lack of antioxidant-rich food or supplements such as
vitamins C, E, and A, beta-carotene and selenium. Stress is also a risk factor
for heart deaths.
Cancer
The evidence connecting female cancers of the breast, uterus and ovaries with
high oestrogen levels is growing. Oestrogen's job in the uterus is to cause
proliferation of the cells. Under the influence of oestrogen, uterine cells
multiply faster, and then progesterone should normally come on the scene with
ovulation and stop the cells from multiplying. Progesterone causes the cells to
mature and enter the secretory phase that causes the maturing of the uterine
lining, which is now ready to receive a possible fertilised egg. Oestrogen is
the hormone that stimulates cell proliferation, and progesterone is the hormone
that stops growth and stimulates ripening.
Oestrogen dominance also
stimulates breast tissue. Premenstrual women who suffer from oestrogen dominance
often suffer from breast-swelling and tenderness. Progesterone, as a hormone of
maturation, brings the cells back into balance and thus can eliminate breast
tenderness.
There is certainly an alarmingly high incidence of breast and
uterine cancer amongst Western women. There is evidence that breast cancer
occurs most often at the stage of life when oestrogen is dominant for the full
month and progesterone is not coming in at the halfway point of ovulation. Dr
Graham Colditz, of Harvard University, maintains that unopposed oestrogen is
responsible for 30 to 35 per cent of breast cancers.22 Some experts would put
that percentage even higher.
Johns Hopkins Private Obstetrics and Gynecology
Clinic accumulated 40 years of research which was published in the American
Journal of Epidemiology in 1981.23 What they discovered was that, when the
low-progesterone group was compared to the normal-progesterone group, the
occurrence of breast cancer was 5.4 times greater in the women in the
low-progesterone group. That is, the incidence of breast cancer in the
low-progesterone group was over 80 per cent greater than in the
normal-progesterone group.
When the study looked at the low-progesterone
group for all types of cancer, they found that women in this group experienced a
tenfold increase for all malignant cancers, compared to the normal-progesterone
group. This would suggest that having a normal level of progesterone protected
women from nine-tenths of all cancers that might otherwise have occurred.24
It is interesting to note that the study disappeared into oblivion when there
was no money available to pursue the obvious implications of a
progesterone-deficiency role in cancer.
In a 1995 study published in the
Journal of Fertility and Sterility, researchers did a double-blind
randomised study examining the use of topical progesterone cream and/or topical
oestrogen in regard to breast cell growth. The results showed that women using
progesterone had dramatically reduced cell-multiplication rates compared to the
women using either the placebo or oestrogen. The women using only oestrogen had
significantly higher cell multiplication rates than any of the other groups. The
women using a combination of progesterone and oestrogen were closer to the
placebo group.25
This exciting study provides some of the first direct evidence that
oestradiol significantly increases breast cell growth, and that progesterone
impressively decreases cell proliferation rates even when oestrogen is also
supplemented.
At this point, it's important to explore the implications of
the experimental drug Tamoxifen which is being prescribed to women with breast
cancer. Since it is proposed to have anti-oestrogenic effects, it is used as a
breast cancer treatment since it blocks the uptake of oestradiol and oestrone
(the cell-proliferating oestrogens), thereby protecting the breast tissue from
the cancer-promoting oestrogens present in the body. A growing number of doctors
insist that the same results can be achieved by giving natural
progesterone.
Uterine cancer is one of the possible side-effects of
Tamoxifen. One study showed that 27 per cent of women taking Tamoxifen showed
hyperplastic (unfavourable new growth) changes in their wombs within 15
months.26
Tamoxifen is carcinogenic and can cause an early menopause, osteoporosis, endometrial cancer, liver cancer and clotting disease. Taking 20 milligrams of Tamoxifen per day can increase the risk for developing endometrial cancer by up to five times. Clotting disorders are seven times more frequent. One study showed just a meagre 0.7 per cent benefit for women taking Tamoxifen preventively to reduce the risk of developing further tumours in the breast.27
It is also interesting to note that menstruating women who have breast surgery carried out during the second half of their menstrual cycle-the luteal phase, when progesterone is high in order to balance oestrogens-survive far longer than do women whose surgery is done early on in their cycle during the oestrogen-dominant follicular phase.28
The only known cause of endometrial cancer is unopposed oestrogen. Here again, the culprits are oestradiol and oestrone. Oestrogen supplements given to post-menopausal women for five years increase the risk of endometrial cancer sixfold, and longer-term use increases it fifteenfold. In pre-menopausal women, endometrial cancer is extremely rare, except during the five to 10 years before menopause when oestrogen dominance is common.29
Synthetic hormones are also linked to cervical cancer. The cells of the cervix are extremely hormone-sensitive. Levels of synthetic progestins, low enough not to alter the cells of the lining of the womb, have been shown to change the cells that line the cervix. Progestins dry up cervical secretions, and this may be part of the reason why cancer of the cervix develops quickly in the presence of cervical infections.30
It was predicted in the 1960s that the Pill would increase the chances of a woman developing a melanoma, the most lethal of all skin cancers. Hormones control the pigmentation of our skin, and melanoma cancer cells have oestrogen receptors which can make the growth of cancer more likely. Women taking HRT are at greater risk of developing melanomas than the average woman.31
Dr Lee strongly believes that because of its many benefits, its great safety,
and particularly its ability to oppose the carcinogenic effects of oestrogens,
natural progesterone deserves far more attention and application than it is
generally given in the prevention and care of women's health problems
today.
The long road we have been travelling over the past 35 years, that has
encouraged and promoted the wide range of synthetic hormone products, is taking
us to a deadly dead-end. The scare-tactic techniques and intimidation employed
by doctors and pharmaceutical companies alike to use such products, often
overriding a woman's better judgement, have pushed millions of women into using
drugs that are unproven and unsafe. It is no surprise, therefore, that Dr Lee
has issued an ominous warning when he says, "We will soon regard making
oestrogen the key ingredient in hormone replacement therapy as a major medical
mistake."32
Women must be able to make educated, informed choices about their bodies and
their health treatment preferences. It's impossible to make important health
decisions if fundamental facts are missing or misconstrued. It is also evident
that the health care providers, whom we have come to rely upon, either have not
received adequate, unbiased education themselves or have become imprisoned by
their own arrogant and narrow-minded points of view.
It is really up to every
woman to read, question, trust her natural instincts and learn about her own
body. It is also essential that a woman honour her own cyclic nature and
intuitive wisdom. It is a woman's right to choose with dignity the best approach
to her own health care.
Endnotes
1. Greer, Germaine, The Change, Hamish Hamilton,
London, 1991.
2. Lee, John R., M.D., What Your Doctor May Not Tell You
About Menopause, Warner Books, New York, 1996, pp. 67-68.
3. Op. cit.,
pp. 42-43.
4. Kenton, Leslie, Passage to Power, Random House, London,
1995, p. 34.
5. Archer, John, The Water You Drink: How Safe Is It?,
Pure Water Press, Australia, 1996, p. 34.
6. Kenton, Leslie, op. cit., p.
32.
7. Lee, John, op. cit., p. 50.
8. Op. cit., p. 56.
9. Wheel of
Hormones, TV production with Lars Mortensen, TV2 Denmark, 1995.
10. Lee,
John, op. cit., p. 44.
11. Archer, John, Bad Medicine, Simon and
Schuster, Australia, 1995, p. 210.
12. Neil, Kate, Balancing Hormones
Naturally, ION Press, London, 1994, p. 28.
13. Beckham, Nancy,
Menopause-A Positive Approach Using Natural Therapies, Penguin Books,
Australia, 1995, pp. 36-37.
14. Ibid., p. 36.
15. British Medical
Bulletin (1992) 48:458-68.
16. Neil, Kate, op. cit., p. 46.
17. Lee,
J. R., "Osteoporosis Reversal: The Role of Progesterone", Intern. Clin. Nutr.
Rev. (1990) 10:384-391.
18. Lee, John R., M.D., What Your Doctor May
Not Tell You About Menopause, p. 183.
19. Op. cit., p. 18.
20.
Beckham, Nancy, ibid., pp. 42-43.
21. Lee, John, op. cit., p. 197.
22. Op.
cit., p. 207.
23. Ibid.
24. Op. cit., p. 208.
25. Chuang, King-Jen,
M.D., T. Y. Tigris, Lee, M.D., Gustavo Linares-Cruz, M.D., Sabine Fournier,
Ph.D., Bruno de Lignières, M.D., "Influences of percutaneous administration of
estradiol and progesterone of human breast epithelial cell cycle in
vivo", Journal of Fertility and Sterility 63:4 785-791, April
1995.
26. Beckham, Nancy, op. cit., p. 48.
27. Neil, Kate, op. cit., p.
40.
28. Kenton, Leslie, op. cit., p. 94.
29. Lee, John, op. cit., p.
220.
30. Neil, Kate, op. cit., p. 41.
31. Ibid.
32. The Sunday
Telegraph, London, 12 May 1996.
About the Author:
Sherrill
Sellman presently lives in Melbourne where she conducts a private psychotherapy
practice, in addition to giving lectures, researching and writing about topics
of interest and concern to her relating to women's health empowerment. She is a
contributing writer to holistic publications in Australia, New Zealand, Canada
and the United States.
For further information about natural progesterone, please send a self-addressed envelope to: Light Unlimited, Locked Bag 8000 - MDC, Kew, Victoria 3101, Australia; phone +61 (0)3 9810 9591; fax +61 (0)3 9855 9991; e-mail: [email protected].
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